A Titanic survivor penned a furious letter to a friend weeks after the infamous sinking, but her outrage was not due to reasons you'd expect. It netted $11,875 in a recent auction, and its contents offer a singular window into the mind of the one percent, 1912 style. »1/23/15 6:00pm 1/23/15 6:00pm

In 1949, a 17-year-old girl named Connie Papurt wanted to buy a dress but needed $25. So she did what a lot of young women in her situation would do: asked a relative if she could borrow the money. The relative? Her aunt, author and economic philosopher Ayn Rand. »1/15/15 11:40am 1/15/15 11:40am

The letters of our alphabet seem like a fixed, immutable thing today. But there was a time when the alphabet as we knew it was still in flux — and some of the letters we use today joined later than others. Here's the story of how the letter g came to join our alphabet. »7/03/14 4:20pm 7/03/14 4:20pm

It's easy to forget that our Latin-derived alphabet came from earlier alphabets that used physical objects to represent their letters. Cartoonist Jason Novak reminds us of the Egyptian, Phoenician, and Sumerian origins of our modern alphabet, with the letters incorporated into sketchy, energetic cartoons. »9/30/12 4:00pm 9/30/12 4:00pm

Even the great masters of science fiction paid tribute to the people who influenced them. Today, Letters of Note has a beautiful 1976 letter that Ray Bradbury wrote — by hand — to Robert Heinlein. »9/14/11 10:30am 9/14/11 10:30am

Author Robert Heinlein took great pride in his military service, having graduated from Annapolis and served in the Navy. In a letter to fandom leader Forrest J. Ackerman, Heinlein condemns science fiction fans who didn't participate in WWII efforts. »5/28/10 3:30pm 5/28/10 3:30pm